Wow...if there was a Websters definition for real car guy,this is it...even better he is a Buick brother..rock on Kimson!:TU:
Hey Kimson: throw pair of new springs in the rear. Quick, cheap and easy to do and it make a BIG difference.
Yeah, I've thought about that, but often the '66 cats sit low in the back in general. It would be nice if springs would help since that would be a cheap fix. Bill, does the cat sit unnaturally low with 255/60/15 tires? Do you think new springs would help? Air shocks is another option on the table, and so is larger rear tires.. Hmm...
Seems to be three different levels of load capacity available, does anyone have anything to say about this?
Thought I'd get a good start on the weekend and picked up the springs I had ordered from Autozone and went to work. I chose what to me seemed to be the middle choice of spring hardness (heavy duty for hard tops). I didn't want to chance it with either side of the spectrum, with the car still sagging or becoming too high in the back. The car had these shorter progressive kind installed under it.. Look at the difference in height uzzled:
I snapped these before and after shots to see what would happen? It looks like we raised it by a good 2 inches and change.. You can easily see the difference if you look at the location of the top edge of the rim.
I like the rake on it. Next would be to go with a similar set of rear tires like I had on the Centurion - 255/70/15 BFGs which would raise it another inch in the back.. It does look a little empty there with the 255/60/15s I also only found one spring retainer, is there supposed to be one at both top and bottom, or only one end?
Hmm.. now I'm having some issues with closing the flap on the garage door, it's really close, might have to adjust that..
Only update for this weekend would be this vacuum gauge that was installed. I put it under the hood for tuning purposes.
I finally found a suitable valve cover breather cap that fit, and it was only $3 at the Pomona swap meet. This meant that I could now plug the front hole on the valve cover and install the air ducts for the filter box. The ducts end an inch below the radiator so they won't suck in hot air from there.
Wow, haven't updated since June.. Thanks for checking in.. There's been more driving than tinkering lately, and that's a change. The last thing that happened was that a freeze plug seems to have gone bad on the bottom of the intake where the exhaust crossover runners go. I'll have to tackle that before I can drive the car again since it sounds like a second exhaust under the hood. I've come to a point where I might have to turn it over to a body shop to finish the bodywork and have it painted. The primer on the hood and fenders have started to get some surface rust on them, so they will have to be sanded and re-primered. First up is a new commuter car so this will probably have to happen in spring when I can see where I'm at with the funding for the paint project.
I thought I'd try to document the engine exhaust leak wrench session, let's see if I can get this to work.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E2_JdteSu3A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Pt. 2 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1cyFGnTjkbA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Pt. 3 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fUIY31M4ehk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>